Combined tool



W. F. LOEFFLER COMBINED TOOL Filed Jan. 1925 $2 555 Qnoentoz xWNiamFLoeffIer- I QZW;

Patented Dec. 13, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1 PATENT OFFICE.

COMBINED- TOOL.

Application filed January 22, 1925. Serial No. 4,077.

My said invention relates to a combined tool fortesting a snark plu andI01 turning the nut at the upper endof the spark plug as when a plug isto be removed or replaced. it is an object of my lnvention to provide adevice of the character described which shall be simple and inexpensiveto manufacture and which shall notbe liable to get out of order. j

A further object'of the invention is to provide a device of thecharacter indicated which can be carried conveniently in the car withouttaking up undue space or being liable to injury.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof andon which similar reference characters indicate similar parts, I

Figure 1 is a perspective of my device in operative position,

Figure 2, a side elevation with parts broken away, and

Figure 3, a fragment illustrating Its use in connection with the nut ona spark plug,

1 this figure being taken on line 3-3 of Figure 2.

In the drawings reference character indicates handle preferably of woodor other insulating material, which handle is here shown as cylindricalbut which may be of any shape convenient for the purpose, which shapewill usually approach a cylindrical form. At one end of the handle are apair of longitudinal parallel apertures to receive a pair of wires 11and 12. these apertures being intersected by radial openmgs 13 throughwhich a tool may be inserted for bending or crimping the wires asindicated at 14 to prevent withdrawal of the wires and also to preventrotation of the wires relative to the handle whereby the spark-gap hereinafter described would be changed.

The wires 11 and 12 are bent outward and twisted so as to form on one ofthem an eye or loop indicated at 15, the size of said-eye being such asto embrace the nut 16 of an ordinary spark plug. The other wire is alsobent but at a slightly different angle from the first and has a loop oreye with its forward portion at 17 concaved to provide a convenient fitadjacent the base 18 of the spark plug. It is not essential that thewire 12 should engage the plug at any particular point except that oneterminal of the tester engages above the porcelain and the other 1below, i. e. at opposite sides of the spark-gap of the plug.

Each of the wires 11 and 12 has a limb 19 projecting from the twistedpart toward the other wire and these approach each other so as to form aspark-gap, the distance between the points of which may readily bevaried by bending the wires if this should be found necessary ordesirable. The use of the device 7 so far described will be obvious fromthe drawings. ,The tester being positioned with the loop about nut 16and the concave part of loop 17 in engagement with the lower part of theplug, a series of sparks will pass the spark-gap between the limbs 19 ifthe engine is running so as to indicate whether or not the plug is inoperative condition.

Should the nut 16 need to be removed or replaced, this may readily bedone by the use of a wrench 20 at the opposite end of the handle. Thiswrench has a stem 21 extending through an opening in the handle which ispreferably at right angles to the axis of the openings 13 if the wrenchprojects sidewise, though I do not limit myself -to such location. Atits upper end the stem 21 passes through a washer 22 and is rivetedthereto or is held in place in any other convenient manner. The wrenchitself consists of a frusto-conical shell adapted to fit about the nut17 and move the jaw 23 toward the nut. This jaw is, or may be, afragment of a hack saw blade secured to the conical part by soldering orinany other convenient manner. As here shown the front line of the jawis parallel to the axis of the stem 21 with the teeth pointing towardthe nut, but a cylindrical shell with a jaw at an incline to its axis iswithin the contemplation of my invention. The advantage of thisconstruction lies in the fact that it is impossible to turn th nut withsuch force as to twist the stem 24 (Fig. 1 and so injure the spark plug,since the teethof the hacksaW blade (or the jaw of the wrench) will slipover the roughened part of the nut if too much force is used and thisrenders it impossible to twist the stem 24 which is a common cause ofinjury to spark plugs. In removing the nut there is usually no danger oftwisting the stem but the teeth will grip the roughened part of the nutforce to loosen it.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes maybe made in with suflicient my device without departing from the spiritthereof and therefore I do not limit myself to What is shown in thedrawings and described in the specification but only as indicated in theappended claims.

Having thus fully described my said invention, What I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letter Patent, is:

1. A spark plug tester comprising a ha1iv dle, a wire bent rearwardlyupon itself and ing a crimped portion for preventing removal or rotationof the wire relative to the handle, a second Wire bent rearwardly uponitself and twisted with an arcuate extremity V for engagement with thelower portion of the plug said wire being secured in said handle similarto the first mentioned Wire,

the free ends of each of said Wires being disposed in slightly spacedrelation to form a spark gap substantially as set forth.

2. A spark plug tester comprising a handle, ametallic body having aportion designed to fitover the nut at the top of the V plug, one end ofsaid body being disposed Within the handle and having a portion forpreventing removal or rotation of the same relative to thehandle,asecond metallic body having an arcuate extremity designed forengagement with the lower portion of the plug said body being alsosecured in said handle, the freeends of each of said bodies beingdisposed in slightly spaced relation to form a spark gap, substantiallyas set forth. r

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set-m hand at Washington, Districtof Columbia, this.21st day of January, A. D. nineteen hundred andtwentyiive.

WVILLIAM F. LOEFFLER.

